Monday, October 05, 2009

Last year it was Donovan McNabb who didn't understand that there were ties in the NFL, but this year it's Rich Gannon that couldn't grasp the intricities of the extra period. During overtime of the Cincinnati-Cleveland game, the Bengals called timeout to give kicker Shayne Graham some time to prepare for the game winning kick. Gannon immediately chastised the team for leaving too much time on the clock for Browns' return man Josh Cribbs.

There's only one problem with that....it's called "sudden" death for a reason. Via Shutdown Corner....

No, Gannon didn't like the timeout because he thought that if Graham hit the field goal, it would leave too much time for dangerous Cleveland return man Joshua Cribbs(notes) to take back the subsequent kickoff for a touchdown. You know, that dreaded post-score overtime kickoff that has felled so many teams throughout history.

Gannon's partner in the booth, Ian Eagle, quickly and politely informed Gannon that the game would be over if Graham successfully converted the field goal, since NFL overtime is sudden death. Gannon laughed and apologized for his mistake. Awesomely, Eagle then asked if McNabb had infiltrated the broadcast booth. Nah, Ian, if that were true, Gannon would have vomited when the game got down to crunch time. (Rimshot!)

It was a ridiculous mistake, but unlike McNabb's ignorance of overtime rules (and his continued defense of said ignorance later in the week), we'll give Gannon the benefit of the doubt and say this was more likely a slip of the tongue than a complete misunderstanding of how overtime works. But, of course, it didn't seem possible that McNabb wouldn't know about ties, so maybe we're giving Gannon too much credit.

No offense to Yahoo, but yes....you're giving him way too much credit. Ties rarely happen in the NFL, and McNabb's mistake was somewhat excusable. To have played multiple overtime games in the NFL, and not know that the game ends on a score, is just the opposite of that.

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Comments:

Well we see why Vick is on the Eagles so he can teach McNabb about ties in the NFL. Palmer had a first hand experience on ties last year, so there was desperation on his part yesterday on not accepting the tie. I don't know what to say on "Loose" Gannon, however.

While Rich Gannon has been improving, he still needs a little bit of work in the booth. He couldn't pronounce Mohamed Massquoi's (WR-Browns) name so he just kept referring to him as "that guy" or "HE will be a great receiver"

Ian Eagle is pure class and should be bumped up to the #1 spot to replace Jim Nantz.

Gannon made a miscue, but the argument could be made of not potentially give Cleveland a shot at scoring if the field goal was missed. The concept of questioning the decision to call a timeout at :07 (vs. :02 or :03) is valid, though Gannon simply made a mistake in explaining the rationale.

McNabb's lack of knowledge of ties was not excusable. Ties are common knowledge and there is no good reason that an NFL player should not know about it. Has McNabb ever seen a standings page where they have a whole column for ties?